KEEP GERMS AWAY EVERY DAY How to Protect

KEEP GERMS AWAY, EVERY DAY!

How to Protect Yourself and Others from “the Flu” • • • Proper Hand Washing Cover Your Cough Get an flu shot every year Stay Home if You are Sick Don’t visit people in hospitals or long -term care homes when you are sick with influenza • Exercise regularly and eat a healthy, well balanced diet

WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN WITH SOAP AND WATER

PROCEDURE • Wet hands and wrists with warm water • Lather soap and scrub hands well for 15 to 20 seconds • Scrub between and around fingers, nail beds, back of each hand, thumbs, and wrists • Rinse thoroughly under running water • Dry hands well on a clean towel or a disposable towel – you can also air dry • Turn off water using a paper towel if possible • Open door with paper towel if possible

Using an Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizer

PROCEDURE • Use only if hands are not visibly dirty • Use on dry hands • Use enough sanitizer to wet both hands thoroughly ( loonie size) • Rub in between and around fingers, back of each hand, thumbs, and nail beds • Keep rubbing until hands are dry

When To Wash Your Hands • Wash before… – – – preparing and serving meals eating and drinking feeding an infant tending to someone who is sick treating a cut or wound putting in or taking out contact lenses – any time hands are visibly dirty – gloving

When To Wash Your Hands • Wash after… – coughing, sneezing or blowing your nose – using the bathroom or helping in the bathroom – tending to someone who is sick – handling dirty laundry & garbage – playing with or touching your pet – after touching “high-traffic” items like doorknobs or shopping carts – gloving

COVER YOUR COUGH OR SNEEZE! Courtesy of CDC

COVER YOUR COUGH OR SNEEZE! • Use a tissue and dispose appropriately • Cough or sneeze into your arm or sleeve • Wash your hands • Maintain a distance of one metre with people who are coughing or sneezing

Other Steps to Avoid Getting Sick • Get a flu shot every year • Stay home if you’re sick • Exercise regularly & eat well

Teach Children How To Protect Themselves “Twinkle, twinkle little star, Look how clean my two hands are, Soap and water, wash and scrub Get those germs off rub-a-dub. Twinkle, twinkle little star, Look how clean my two hands are!”

Any Questions? October 20, 2006 For more info contact Huron County Health Unit 77722 B London Rd, RR#5, Clinton, ON, N 0 M 1 L 0 519 -482 -3416 or 877 -837 -6143